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Holding views similar to those of blogging law professor William Jacobson, I believe the “birther” story has released critical mass in large part because Obama supporters want to paint the President’s critics with a broad brush, as if we’re all extremists. Why else would left-wing extremist website (DailyKos) have commissioned a poll on this topic for unhinged leftists to wave around in much the same manner as some of the birthers wave around their facts?

One reason the “birthers” have gained so much traction in America is that while promising a new era of transparency, Barack Obama has been less than forthcoming about his own past, misrepresenting his relationship with William Ayers, refusing to release his transcripts from Occidential College or Columbia University and offering evasive explanations about his youthful years in Indonesia. He could clear up a lot if he, as past presidents have done, just released the various documents.

And while the DailyKos poll suggests a majority of Republicans falls in the first camp, the real question for those on the left who want to use that number to trash Republicans is this: if so many rank-and-file Republicans support the birthers, why aren’t leading GOP politicians making more of this issue? Can these lefties identify any national Republican who has supported the birthers? Are they aware that no House Republican voted against the resolution declaring Obama a native of Hawai’i?

FROM THE COMMENTS: Sonicfrog reminds me why I had long ago lost interest in this issue: “Yet, when the Republican Governor of Hawaii Linda Lingle declares that she’s seen the original and declares Obama a natural born citizen, well, this inconvenient fact is shrugged off.” Believing this good woman, I paid the issue no heed until it was all over the blogosphere this past week.

Perhaps, I shouldn’t have blogged on this, given the number of our perennial critics who have faulted me for saying the exact opposite of what I actually said. But, then again, this isn’t the first time, they’ve put words into my mouth so they can fault me for saying them.

25 Comments

The Birther nonsense only really has traction in the south where there are a lot of people who refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of an African American president. If Republicans want to appeal to the middle, they need to distance themselves with the racist elements in the party rather than pander to them. The same goes for the homophobes.

GPW-
You seem to be impressed by birthers “knowledge” but if you look at any wacko conspiracy theory, it follows the same pattern:
Anything that is contrarian is a forgery, followed by Cherry Picking, Moving Goalposts and a whole load of other logical fallacies.

The fact is, your Obama hatred is so deep that you are willing to believe that nearly 48 years ago his family, the state of HI and newspapers conspired to forge his ID so he could one day lead our nation.

You fail to believe the many people who have looked at the evidence and declared its authentic.
So your only argument is the old ostrich argument “I can’t see it, therefore its not there”

Although I suspect there probably is something that Obama finds embarrassing about his own birth certificate – most likely that he was born a Muslim in accordance with the fact that his father was a Muslim, and Muslim law goes by the religion of the father – I do think this whole issue is silly. There isn’t going to be any shocking revelation that removes him from the Presidency or makes him a non-citizen, and I would rather be talking about the very real ways in which Obama is destroying our nation – like Obama’s $1.8 trillion deficits, destruction of what’s left of American health care, etc.

Dan, if you believe the President was born in Hawaii and therefore absolutely eligible to be President, why are you advocating the release of more documents to show what you already know to be true? For birthers, there’s no indication this would settle the matter, since they’ve taken such extensive efforts to question previously released documents. Why wouldn’t they do the same with such a document? Also, what information do you think is included on the birth certificate which isn’t duplicated on the certificate of live birth? There will always be another expectation not met, another reason posed for these people and these kinds of support of empathy only encourage this conspiracy mentality. Your support of this makes you a birther by extension. You question the President’s leadership not because of what he’s done or what is known of him, but rather by what you imagine without proof might be true.

It seems your grievance is more that Obama is a savvy politician than that there’s anything in his past worth questioning. Don’t you find it absolutely ridiculous that Republicans and conservatives are more wont to believe Republican image making, e.g. Reagan and Bush Jr. as hard scrabble, modest, tough-guy ranchers rather than wealthy, well-connected professional businessmen and politicians, yet come up with Manchurian Candidate conspiracy theories about Obama since he doesn’t fit the mold of what a President’s past has generally been like?

ILC, I’m guessing if there is a “long form” of the birth certificate, there could be something on there that Obama doesn’t want known. And one good possibility is that it could state his religion as Muslim.

On the one hand, it seems like it shouldn’t make a difference. It is well-known that Obama’s father was a Muslim. Also, if Obama was born Muslim, that doesn’t mean he is Muslim now. People convert. And Obama had been a member of a Christian Church, one that apparently with a pastor with several issues anyway. Further, at least in this country, it should be irrelevant in terms of becoming president.

Of course, in reality, being a Muslim, atheist, or even Jewish or Catholic, by itself, impedes one to become president. So I could see Obama trying to downplay any Muslim connection, especially since he is no longer (or never was) a Muslim. As it is, how many times do we see people try to negatively exploit his Muslim roots by calling him B. Hussein Obama, or otherwise specifically making a point of identifying his middle name in a negative light.

If it does turn out that Obama was somehow not a natural born citizen (thus disqualifying him to be president), I don’t see how this is going to change anything. We’ll be in virtual deadlock for the rest of his term, similar to Watergate. At this point, why not concentrate on how he is actually doing as president. If, by Nov. 2012, he is seen as an ineffective president, let’s get rid of him the old-fashioned way.

The media and extreme left are trying to distract people into thinking people do not believe he was born in Hawaii. That’s not the point. I do think he is trying to hide something, I do not even care what it is, I do care that he spent so much to keep it in the dark when all he has to do is request it. We are relying on a person in Hawaii who says they have seen the original. Whatever. I guess real issue is who do you trust.

Dan, did you follow all of the links in Charlene’s post. Most are either, dead, inaccurate, outdated, or don’t provide links to back their assertions. For instance, the “Intellectual Conservative” article states:

That is a horrible interpretation of the statute, and is misleading and false. A person couldn’t just go into the Secretary of Hawaii’s office, hold up the baby Kunta Kente style, and get a certificate issued on the spot declaring that the baby was born in Hawaii. The law was written into effect in 1911. Many native Hawaiians didn’t have birth certificates as we know them. Then, as is now, you would have to provide evidence, as much as you could produce in the day, that you were indeed born on the islands.

There is NO evidence that Obama was born anywhere other than Hawaii. There are no plane tickets or other documents showing MommaBoma was anywhere other than Hawaii. There is the “sworn affidavit” from GramaBoma, but has anyone seen, verified, and validated that document????? Plus, it’s hearsay. Yet, when the Republican Governor of Hawaii Linda Lingle declares that she’s seen the original and declares Obama a natural born citizen, well, this inconvenient fact is shrugged off. Janice Okubo, director of communications for the Hawaii Department of Health, says “If you were born in Bali, for example, you could get a certificate from the state of Hawaii saying you were born in Bali. You could not get a certificate saying you were born in Honolulu. The state has to verify a fact like that for it to appear on the certificate”.

Meanwhile, it has been brought to light that the “Birther” lawyers have quite a sterling reputation – one sanctioned for legal malpractice (that is not an easy thing to accomplish, judging by the SCO vs. Everybody Using UNIX case), one got her law degree online, and another was disbarred in California, Texas, and Florida. And would anybody please tell me why Allan Keyes has ANY credibility in the Republican party. He’s been kind of an embarrassment lately.

This whole thing is starting to remind me of the Terry Schaivo debacle, where even though the doctors who actually look.at her and examined her all said she’s brain dead. Yet the idiots Republicans though they knew better, and started accusing everyone, doctors and lawyers and judges, of lying because, well, we’re Republican, and we know better. This is the type of arrogance that lead this party into the shithole in 2006, and will destroy any chance of gaining a permanence of the temporary victories in 2010, if they do come at all.

Dan and Bruce, I emplore you, PLEASE denounce this whole thing before it comes back to bite you and our friends here at GP in the ass.

GPW, thank you for bringing up the fact that the Brilliant One will NOT release his college record. Could it be that he was nothing more than a guilty White person(s) affirmative action project? And that the record will show that-HORROR OF HORRORS!!!-former President George W. Bush may have had better grades than the Brilliant One. After all, Mr. Bush DID have better grades than another Democrat braintrust, Sen. John Kerry. It is amazing that the Obamawhores in the Mainstream Media want to turn a blind eye to the Brilliant One’s college record but mocked George W. Bush. And we at least know HIS college record.

I have said that I believe Obama was born in Hawai’i and thus constitutionally eligible to be president. I have said I’m impressed with some birthers because they have a lot of facts at their disposal. Most, however, leave out certain details like the fact that the state of Hawai’i has confirmed that the birth certificate exists and shows that Obama was born in the Aloha State.

But, they just want to see it.

You say I fail to believe the people who have looked at the evidence. Actually, if you’ve read my posts (this one and the previous one) on the topic, you’d know that I do in fact believe those people. Indeed, I’ve said as much.

In these two posts, I’ve basically echoed the thoughts of other bloggers, on both sides of the political aisle (including some die-hard Obama supporters) in urging the President to release the certificate.

Why is it that you all too regularly contend I am saying one thing when I’ve said the exact opposite.

I think it is admiral to bring up a subject you disagree with and look at it objectively. That is a sign of an intellectual, inquisitive, open minded person. Society is trying to get rid of or scare off the inquisitive, open minded person through fear and belittling them by putting them into a ridiculous “crazy” group. I have seen this on both sides Right and Left. The Left have the media behind them at this time and are capitalizing on it. They have the power. Many on the right do not want to look “crazy”. That is why they do not like this Birther thing. The Left did a great job pulling out the crazy. They do this with all groups.

Most people saw what you wrote, you believe Obama was born in the USA. Just bringing light to the other side. In a very respectful way. The people who get angry are afraid of looking like the “crazy” group.

Yet the idiots Republicans though they knew better, and started accusing everyone, doctors and lawyers and judges, of lying because, well, we’re Republican, and we know better.

Citation Needed.

As I recall, a particularly nasty scumbag, who stated under oath that he was going to care for his wife the rest of her life, suddenly remembered that she didn’t want to be kept alive. Amazingly, he remembered after he hooked up with some broad.

In my opinion the Republican Party has been taken over the most extreme religious right (people who love to push their beliefs on others while trying to take away their rights) and that’s who they need to focus on if they real want to win. Good Luck, because as they said in WACO, “We Ain’t Coming Out”.

In the same vein, to all the birthers in La, La Land, it is on you to prove to all of us that your assertion is true, if there are people who were there and support your position then show us the video (everyone has a price), either put up or frankly shut-up. I heard Orly Taitz, is selling a tape (I think it’s called “Money, Lies and Video tape”). She is from Orange County, CA, now I know what the mean when they say “behind the Orange Curtain”, when they talk about Orange County, the captial of Conspiracy Theories. You know Obama has a passport, he travel abroad before he was a Senator, but I guess he fooled them too?

Paul, what does your comment have to do with anything I said in the post?

And while you may claim (with no evidence whatsoever to back you up) that the GOP has been taken over by those who want to force their views on us, why then is the Democrat Party pushing actual legislation which would impose health care mandates on all of us.

Can you please identify legislation Republicans proposed–and tried hard to enact–which would have pushed their beliefs on others?

[…] seems one of the standard criticisms I hear of the GOP is that our reader Paul expressed in a comment to a recent post: In my opinion the Republican Party has been taken over the most extreme religious right (people […]

Even if Obummer was born in Hawaii why is he refusing to release the birth certificate. It looks like he has something to hide.

What is of more interest is his college and schooling record. The ditzy leftards claim that this intellectual pygmy is intelligent but everything he does shows the opposite e.g. his understanding of both economics and history is substandard and definitely not university standard.

So who paid for the this intellectual pygmy to go to Harvard? It costs a lot of money. Where did the money come from?

This man knew Bill Ayers and on top of that he was associated with various communists in Hawaii. There is a lot of subterfuge going on and the MSM has been helping with the subterfuge.

The original birthers were Democrats. I am not a birther but I must say that I would like to see the original certificate, and not what has been shown to date because there is the possibility that it was a fake (I am open minded on that issue) and if that is the case then the only way to resolve the issue once and for all is to produce the real certificate and stop spending the thousands of dollars trying to hide the information.

Obummer has such a poor record since he has taken over as POTUS that I can truly understand why so many are growing uneasy on this subject. It is not about race. It is not about the colour of his skin because he could be pink or purple and people would still want to have that specific point clarified.

Perhaps what has to be kept in mind is that Arnie cannot make a run for President because he was born in Austria. I think that this is one reason why there are people who just want this cleared up to their satisfaction, and yes to date it has not been cleared up. As for the date of birth I am not convinced that Obummer was born August 4 because he does not act like a typical Leo, showing true leadership skills. Also, he made a comment about the Cuban crisis that calls into question the actual date of his birth (and I am going on what dufus said to the grand poohbah of Cuba, not anything to do with fake or otherwise birth certificates – the information does not quite add up and needs clarification).

I consider the whole issue to be a very big distraction because the intellectual pygmy is doing a lot of harm to the US economy and social order. I hope that he will be thrown out of office by the time of the next election. I hope that he will take all of his criminal cronies with him – and in a way I hope that his using those criminals will be his undoing sooner rather than later.